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COTK, CREC, & Tyranny: Part 9

Dear Michael,

As you know, on November 13, Church of the King–Santa Cruz, CA (COTK), issued a lengthy statement declaring their official withdrawal from the CREC. The announcement essentially outlined two primary reasons for their move. First, the CREC acts in such defiance of its constitution that its leadership actually sanctions injury to CREC member churches and, second, contrary to its constituted authority the CREC retroactively approved the actions of Douglas Wilson after he deliberately subverted COTK’s government. In fact, Wilson consciously split their church intending to divvy the flock to his “presbytery” because he had “personal differences” with COTK elder Andrew Sandlin.

Within hours of the announcement, CREC confederates and their friends pressured COTK to soften the statement if not remove it, for fear of causing unnecessary offense. COTK acquiesced by redacting the name Douglas Wilson from their website, as well as the explicit narrative describing his manifold treacheries against their lawful authority and the CREC Constitution. At the same time, however, they offered their original unabridged statement to anyone who asked, though since then bootleg copies have appeared all over the web. These facts are true.

Today let me call your attention to the single most important fact surrounding COTK’s accusations against Douglas Wilson and the CREC, at least for the present time. Of course I refer to that deafening silence we hear coming from the CREC leadership — no one has denied a word of COTK’s testimony. Neither Wilson nor Booth nor any of their confederate toadies has issued a repudiation of COTK’s charges. Indeed, no one has defended the CREC against the charge of “dishonest subscription to its own constitution,” and no one has defended Douglas Wilson against the charge that he “did not adhere to courtesies and Christian ethics common among church leaders.” Even more remarkably, no one — not even the brothers Bayly — has contradicted COTK’s vivid account of Douglas Wilson the cunning scoundrel. This fact deserves notice.

Now, despite no denials of COTK’s sweeping accusations, we have seen three different responses from three different sectors of the CREC camp. Accordingly, we have heard from (1) unnamed CREC underlings, (2) CREC Council Moderator Randy Booth, and (3) Douglas Wilson.

First, unnamed CREC underlings responded to COTK with distress. According to the truncated statement, COTK modified their original announcement because it “distraught several friends in the CREC,” which is the expected response from sycophants hand-picked by Wilson to ignore his sin. Bad publicity makes them look like suck-ups. Thus they immediately contacted COTK to request its removal, which means that Pope Doug wasted no time marshalling his forces to help silence his adversary.

Second, a few days after COTK’s announcement, “CREC Council Moderator” Randy Booth,[1] uploaded a benign salutation to the front page of the CREC’s website, nonchalantly stating,

As the CREC continues to grow, we are humbled by God’s kindness and patience with us. All growth presents challenges and difficulties, especially as any group works out the changing dynamics that inevitably occur. Some are attracted to what they see and a few may conclude along the way that we are no longer a good fit for them. For those who move on, we wish them well and ask God’s blessings on their faithfulness and labors. (emphasis added)

“Well, other than that, Mrs. Linclon, how was the play?” asked the wag of the widow.

Third, Douglas Wilson has favored us with two blog posts that touched upon the subject, though neither responded directly to the accusations. His first entry appeared two days after COTK’s announcement:

. . . . The second sin we must fight is the sin of the grievance. A grievance is never mere disagreement. A grievance always has an edge; a grievance is personal; a grievance resents; a grievance imputes motives; a grievance is suspicious; a grievance is an insult to the love of God in Christ. . . . (“Grievances In Perspective”)

Those familiar with the man know that he prefers to libel his “enemies” through innuendo, though he won’t hesitate to commit defamation proper if the occasion demands. In this instance, we see him shuffling the deck, getting ready to play the “grievance” card, which is simply the “bitterness” card in a different suit. However, there appeared to be no immediate backlash from COTK’s statement, so he left well enough alone and posted nothing more.

This changed, however, on November 22, when Google’s cache yielded COTK’s original statement, which allowed everyone to see Douglas Wilson, pernicious rogue, with no clothes. Two days later Pope Doug descended from on high to stand upon his balcony before the adoring crowds and offer a cordial benediction in response to “this situation”:

Father, we pray that You would deal with this situation. If it is Your good pleasure to deal with it through saving them, then that is what we would by far prefer, and it is what we ask for. But if it is not Your good pleasure to save them, we ask that You would cut them off in their course of sinning regardless, and that You would not allow their iniquity to come to its full measure. Set limits to Your judgment on them. We pray that You would set limits to that judgment by setting limits to their lies and treachery. We pray, Father, that You would cut them off in the midst of their sin. . . . We pray that we would be vindicated and justified with regard to all that we have not done wrong. . . These evil men and women attack us — they attack us because we love what is good, and because we trust in You. . . . We pray that You would set for them a dark and slippery place, and that the angel of the Lord would persecute them there. They have hated us without any just cause at all, and they have devised all their plots without any good reason. . . Lower Your spear against them. . . We pray that You would string Your bow, sharpen Your sword, make ready all the instruments of death. . . . Let their table become poisonous to them, let it become a snare. Let their eyes be darkened, and judicial blindness fall upon them. . . . strike them so that they cannot see. . . Pour out hot indignation all over them; take hold of them tightly in Your wrathful anger. May their dwellings become empty and desolate. . . Add iniquity to their iniquity; make a great heap of their sins. Do not let them enter into Your righteousness. Blot them out of the book of the living. . . . Let these wicked men come under the rule and reign of wicked men. Let Satan be continually at their right hand, accusing them. When they come into judgment, when the trial comes, we pray that the verdict of guilty would be rendered. When they cry out to You, let their prayers be reckoned as sinful. When they pray to You, let the ceiling above them remain silent. Cut short their days. . . . Let their children be orphaned, cut off without a father. Let their wives be widows, and we pray that their children would be desolate, having to beg their bread in empty places. We pray that the extortioner would come back at them, catching them in their plots, and taking all that they have. May strangers and aliens pillage them and leave them with nothing. We pray that when this happens, and Your hand is evident, that no one would show mercy, and that no kindness would be extended to his fatherless children. Cut off his posterity; may his name and his line come to nothing. Recall how sinful his father was, and call up again the sins of his mother. May their sins come before Your throne continually. . . . Tie those curses around him permanently. . . . (“A Prayer of Imprecation,” emphasis added)

Well, I think you get the gist. He could have saved a lot of bandwidth if he had just told the truth: “Dear God, please kill them.” Regardless, none of these vindictive curses denies any of COTK’s charges; they simply change the subject from Wilson’s perfidy to his malice.

Therefore, in the absence of any such denials, rebuttals, or explanations from the CREC or Pope Doug relative to the Church of the King–Santa Cruz, they leave us to conclude that they care not one whit to change the record and that every accusation made by COTK against them is true. In other words, Douglas Wilson is a self-willed unprincipled reprobate and the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches loves to have it so.

_________________

[1] This pretentious title alluding to church antiquity almost makes me wet my pants. Just twelve years ago, which is slightly closer to real life than the Dark Ages, Randy Booth split a Reformed Baptist church in Texarkana where he served as elder. His fellow elders reciprocated by declaring him a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” which garb he has gladly worn since then and never thought to change. More importantly, no ecclesiastical authority with standing has removed the censure and he remains at odds with the church that he ruptured. Yet the CREC dons him “Council Moderator” as though “the voice of the Church” has not spoken and they can wash away the truth with a high-sounding name for a hollow office. Randy Booth is a disgrace.

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